New Product: Computer Startup and Shutdown Controller

[djscoto]

Hey Everyone,
Sorry for the shameless plug... 

I created a new product that will be ready to ship next Monday and thought some of you may be interested in it.

Information From My Site:

The Computer Startup / Shutdown Controller (CSSC) was designed to help control custom computers in Arcade Machines, Pinball Machines, and automotive applications. Today, there are a number of DIY projects where computers are used with no easy way to control them safely powering up and down. This is where the CSSC comes in. The CSSC will monitor an external (machine) DC power source and power up or shut down a computer based on the state of this external supply. It does this by monitoring both the machine power supply and the computer state, via USB. If the machine power is turned on, the CSSC will trigger the power switch of the computer and wait for it to become active via USB. Once the power for the machine is turned off, the CSSC will trigger the power switch once again to shut down the computer. There are also a significant amount of logic in the CSSC to ensure the computer is in the proper state.

More information including pictures, user guides, and a demo video can be found at the link below.
http://scottdanesi.com/WP/?page_id=398

Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you,

--Scott

[Le Chuck]

Why would I choose this over a smart strip?

[cools]

Not sure of the purpose myself either, if you:

1) Power the PC from the same source as the cabinet.
2) Enable power-on after loss in the BIOS
3) Disable write caching in the OS

Then you're done. Don't switch off when the disk is being written and you'll have no problems powering on and off everything with the cab power switch.

[Vigo]

Not sure of the purpose myself either, if you:

1) Power the PC from the same source as the cabinet.
2) Enable power-on after loss in the BIOS
3) Disable write caching in the OS

Then you're done. Don't switch off when the disk is being written and you'll have no problems powering on and off everything with the cab power switch.

From my understanding, disabling the write cache will not prevent you from data corruption when you hard shut down, it is just that the write cache is a major offender for corrupting data on a hard shut down. Anything that is writing when you hard shut down can corrupt, even system data if shut down at the wrong time.

Why would I choose this over a smart strip?

If I understand this correctly, it doesn't replace a smart strip. It just allows a hard toggle switch to shut down your computer rather than needing to do a soft shut down, so it is more authentic I guess.

[Le Chuck]

If all I'm gaining is use of a rocker switch over use of a momentary I'm good, thanks. 

[djscoto]

Hey Everyone,
This controller is meant to help with applications where you have a power switch already in the machine.  This may not totally be needed for 100% custom built arcade cabinets, but it does make sense for dedicated cabinets that are getting upgraded with computer components.  It also keeps the experience authentic. 

Vigo is correct, Disabling Write Caching does not protect you 100% from drive corruption.  This is the main reason why I chose to make this product. 

Please let me know if you have any other questions.  Thank you,

--Scott

[cools]

Not sure of the purpose myself either, if you:

1) Power the PC from the same source as the cabinet.
2) Enable power-on after loss in the BIOS
3) Disable write caching in the OS

Then you're done. Don't switch off when the disk is being written and you'll have no problems powering on and off everything with the cab power switch.

From my understanding, disabling the write cache will not prevent you from data corruption when you hard shut down, it is just that the write cache is a major offender for corrupting data on a hard shut down. Anything that is writing when you hard shut down can corrupt, even system data if shut down at the wrong time.

You're quite correct, however in 15 years of messing about with MAME cabs I've never had any problems as long as I've taken the precaution mentioned.

Don't you need two mains cables coming out of the cabinet with this controller?

[djscoto]

Hey Cools,
You bring up a great point.  I originally created this for Pinball projects where there is a constant power source to plug the computer into.  I know with my MAME machine and my pinball projects, I have a utility outlet that provides constant power to the computer and the switch on the cabinet powers up the transformer.  I guess if you are making a cabinet from scratch, you would not necessarily need this.  But in the case where you are modifying an existing cabinet with a computer, I could see this being useful. 

It may not be for everyone, but I figured I would post it here to see if it could help someone. 

Thanks,
--Scott

[yotsuya]

Props to you for designing something different! 

[krick]

I can definitely see the need for a device like yours if you want an external device (like your arcade cabinet) to trigger the startup and shutdown of your windows PC.  So good job there.  I could definitely see someone using it with a multi-JAMMA setup in combination with a PC running MAME in a stock JAMMA cabinet.

I have my arcade cabinet set up the opposite way.  I replaced the cabinet's on/off toggle switch with a momentary push button that connects to my PC's on/off button.  Turning on my PC triggers a relay that powers up the cabinet.  Turning off my PC triggers the relay to power off the cabinet.

[adder]

a device to enable a monitor/tv to powerup after a delay which the user can set would be cool.. eg. u could have your monitor only power on once windows has loaded and your frontend launches. does something like this exist already?

[Vigo]

a device to enable a monitor/tv to powerup after a delay which the user can set would be cool.. eg. u could have your monitor only power on once windows has loaded and your frontend launches. does something like this exist already?

I think a cheapo $15 arduino board could do this, as long as you are willing to wire it up to your tv/monitor and make a simple script to trigger the switch on frontend startup and shutdown. Never got into arduinos, but maybe someone who has could elaborate.

If you wanted something that turned on and off the power source itself, rather than just trigger the switch, then I think that might be more complicated.